Combined cartridge case retainer and extractor



2,982,182 COMBINED CARTRIDGE CASE RETAINER AND EXTRACTOR Filed May 27, 1960 May 2, 1961 R. B. FELTON ETAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 EJ' EL 76 as 70 Ihumuz, EIIE'iE'ZQ 2:21:15.

United States Patent COMBINED CARTRIDGE CASE RETAINER AND EXTRACTOR Ruth B. Felton, Springfield, and Thomas S. Fitzgerald, Chicopee Falls, Mass, assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Filed May 27, 1960, Ser. No. 32,487

6 Claims. (Cl. 89-33) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a firearm magazine provided with a plurality of cartridge firing chambers and is more particularly directed to means for individually extracting the fired cartridge cases or live cartridges from the chambers.

The problem of continuously launching a plurality of relatively heavy projectiles such as grenades from a shoulder-operated firearm has been successfully solved by incorporating the firing chambers therefor in the magazine into which cartridges containing such projectiles are loaded and carried. This location for firing chambers eliminates the necessity for moving the individual cartridges into firing position since the same result can be readily achieved by incrementally advancing the magazine itself through the firearm upon the firing of each cartridge.

While a maximum rate of fire could be achieved simply by replacing each fired magazine with a freshly loaded unit, such frequent expenditure of magazines would, of course, be extremely uneconomical and also introduce a serious problem in logistics. The more desirable solution would be to reload the magazine either prior to ejection from the firearm or immediately thereafter. In either event, the fired cartridge case in each firing chamber must be loosened in order to permit the subsequent removal thereof. This requirement presents considerable difficulty in a shotgun type of firearm not provided with any recoiling parts.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide primary extraction means for loosening a fired cartridge case from a firing chamber formed entirely within the magazine employed to feed the cartridge into the gun.

An additional object of this invention lies in the provision of the aforesaid extraction means which can be actuated independently of the firing operation of the firearm to partially extract a cartridge from the firing chamber thereof in either the fired or unfired condition thereof.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a primary extraction device of the aforesaid type which will also assist in limiting the setback imparted to the cartridge case during the launching of the projectile therefrom.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an extraction device of the foregoing type which may be actuated While the magazine is still retrained in the firearm as long as the cartridges to be extracted have been moved to a position clear of the interior of the receiver.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side-elevation of a firearm showing the type of chamber-containing magazine in which the extraction device of the invention may be incorporated;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken along line 22 in Fig. l to show the rear of the magazine with the two leading firing chambers each containing a fully loaded cartridge and another cartridge in the process of being loaded into the remaining chamber;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken along line 33 in Fig. 2 to show the extractor locked in the position for retaining a cartridge in one of the firing chambers;

Fig. 4 is a rear end view of the magazine with each of the rounds in the extracted position prior to ejection;

Fig. 5 is a cross-section taken along line 55 of Fig. 4 to show the extractor unlocked and at the conclusion of the cartridge extraction movement thereof;

Fig. 6 is a cross-section taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 5 to show the manner in which the claws are positioned in the head of the extractor;

Fig. 7 is a top view of Fig. 6 taken along line 7-7;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of an extractor claw; and

Fig. 9 is an exploded perspective View of the extractor assembly.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, there is provided a shotgun type of shoulder-operated firearm having a substantially rectangular receiver 10 and a barrel 12 fixedly secured to the forward end thereof. The bore of barrel 12 is preferably of suflicient diameter to permit the passage therethrough of relatively large projectiles as, for example, those having a caliber of 37 mm. or greater. A substantially rectangular feedway 14 extends transversely through receiver 10 and is completely open at the front end thereof to establish direct communication with the bore of barrel 12. The floor of feedway 14 is provided with suitable transverse tracks 16 adapted to slidably receive mating ribs 18 disposed on the underside of a magazine 20.

A plurality of longitudinal firing chambers 22 are equally spaced apart in magazine 20 in parallel relation and are each arranged to successively feed a cartridge 24 into firing position as magazine 20 is automatically advanced transversely through feedway 14. For the purpose of explaining the invention, the case of the cartridge 24 is of conventional cylindrical configuration having a projecting rim 25 at the rear end thereof formed by an annular extractor groove 26.

The upper rear face of magazine 20 is angularly cut away to form a vertical recess 27 having a forwardly sloping well extending transversely between the two outermost firing chambers 22. A downwardly inclined passage 28 extends forwardly into the body of magazine 20 between each pair of firing chambers 22 to terminate short of the front face thereof. Passage 28 is arranged to slidably receive the elongated body 30 of an extractor 32 having a substantially triangularly shaped head 34 arranged to seat against the inclined wall of recess 27. The opposite sides of head 34 are each arcuately formed to substantially the same radius as firing chambers 22. The angularity of recess 27 is so related to the inclination of passage 28 that the rear face of extractor head 34 is substantially flush with the rear face of magazine 20 when extractor 32 is in the fully forward position thereof. Inclined passage 28 is of greater length than extractor body 30 in order to seat a spring 36 which continually urges extractor 32 to the rear. Extractor body 30 is provided with an elongated slot 37 arranged to permit the passage therethrough of a vertical pin 38 extending downwardly into magazine 20. Pin 38 serves to retain extractor 32 in magazine 20 without interfering with the required reciprocal movement thereof.

However, this rearward movement of extractor 32 is arranged to be blocked by a lock 39 slidably disposed in a vertical hole 40 extending downwardly from the top of magazine 20 to intersect inclined passage 23. The upper end of extractor lock 39 is provided with a forwardly facing shoulder 42 arranged to engage with a mating surface 44 formed by a notch 46 in the underside of extractor body 30 adjacent the junction thereof with head 34. Lock 39 is urged upwardly into locking engagement with extractor 32 by a spring 48 seated in the bottom of vertical hole 40. One side of extractor lock 39 is slotted as indicated at 50 to form an upwardly inclined cam surface 52 by means of which lock 39 may be forced downwardly out of locking engagement with extractor '32.

This unlocking movement of extractor lock 39 is produced by an upwardly inclined cam surface 54 notched into the underside of a release lever 56 slidably mounted in a longitudinal hole 58 extending forwardly into magazine 20 to intersect vertical hole 40. The rear end of release lever 56 is provided with a substantially triangularly shaped head 60 arranged to enter into a recess 62 extending transversely along the lower portion of the rear face of magazine 20.

Extractor head 34 is slit along the opposing sides thereof to form channels as best shown at 64 in Fig. 7. Each of the upper apexes of head 34 is drilled as indicated at 66 (Fig. 9) to receive a roll pin 68 on which an extractor claw 70 is pivotally mounted for movement in a vertical plane.

Claw 70 is formed with projecting finger 72 of sufficient width to fit loosely into channel 64 and of sufficient height to contain an opening 74 for the slidable entry of pin 68. The body of claw 70 is substantially rectangular in configuration and is provided with a projecting rib 76 disposed parallel with finger 72 and spaced rearwardly thereof. Thus, when claw 70 is pivotally mounted on roll pin 68, finger 72 and rib 76 straddle the rearwardly disposed portion of the upper corner of extractor head 34. As can be readily seen in Fig. 5, claw 70 projects rearwardly beyond the rear face of extractor head 34 and requires a corresponding recess 77 along the rear wall of the magazine feedway 14 in order to permit the transverse movement of magazine 20 in receiver 10.

The interior of head 34 is formed with a pair of divergent cylindrical recesses 78, each arranged to receive a compression spring 80 and a plunger head 82. Spring 80 urges plunger head 82 into contact with the underside of finger 72 inwardly of the pivot point of claw 70. The rearwardly disposed portion of each upper apex of extractor head 34 is formed with a double-angled rectangular surface 84. The upper portion of surface 84 is arranged to mate with a corresponding sloped surface 86 formed by the wall which separates finger 72 and rib 76. The contact between surfaces 84 and 86 serves to limit the clockwise pivotal movement imparted to claw 70 by spring 80. In addition, the front face of claw 70 is provided with an angular shoulder 88, as shown in Fig. 8, which is adapted to contact a correspondingly inclined surface 90 on the forwardly disposed portion of the upper apex of extractor head 34 and thereby properly position claw 70 during the assembly thereof. The underside of claw 70 is arcuately formed to correspond with the peripheral contour of extractor head 34 and is normally arranged to lie in coincident alignment therewith. In this position, a slot 91 formed in to the underside of claw 70 will engage over the rim 25 of the; cartridge 24 in firing chamber 22. The rear face of claw 70 is beveled along the bottom thereof to provide a primary cam surface 92 extending from the outer end thereof and an adjacent continuing secondary cam surface 94 disposed at a different angle.

Ordinarily, firing chambers 22 are loaded with fresh cartridges 24 when extractors 32 are disposed in the position shown in Fig. in which extractor head 34 has been moved to the rearward limit thereof beyond the 4 rear face of magazine 20. In this position, the inclination of passage 28 in which extractor body 30 is slidably disposed causes head 34 to be sufficiently raised at the conclusion of the rearward travel thereof to clear rim 25 of cartridge 24. However, the lower portion of the peripheral edge of extractor head 34 will remain in front of cartridge case rim 25 whereby extractor 32 will be pushed forwardly against the bias of spring 36 as cartridge 24 is being loaded into firing chamber 22.

If two cartridges 24 are simultaneously loaded into the adjacent magazine firing chambers 22 served by a single extractor 32, the engagement of rims 25 by slot 91 in claw 70 will occur substantially at the conclusion of the forward movement of extractor 32. However, if the pushing force on both cartridges 24 is not equally distributed so that one becomes completely chambered prior to the other, or if only one cartridge is being loaded, the downwardly inclined forward movement of extractor 32 will position claw 70 in the path of the rim 25 on the cartridge 24 about to be fully chambered. Since claws 70 are pivotally mounted in extractor head 34, the feeding jam, which would otherwise result, is prevented by the fact that the upper surface of the cartridge case will contact primary cam surface 92 and swing claw upwardly to position secondary cam surface 94 thereon into the path of movement of the cartridge case rim 25. The remainder of the chambering movement of the case into firing chamber 22 continues the pivotal movement imparted to claw 70 thereby permitting rim 25 to move into alignment with slot 91. Plunger spring then returns claw 70 to the normal unpivoted position thereof wherein slot 91 therein engages over the cartridge case rim 25. Thus, cartridge 24 may be fully loaded into firing chambers 22 regardless of the position of extractor 32 in magazine 20.

During the firing of each cartridge 24, the customary setback of the fired case is blocked by claw 70 since lock 39 prevents rearward movement of extractor 32. As each cartridge 24 is fired, magazine 20 is automatically advanced by means not shown to bring the next successive chamber 22 into firing position. Thus, when the two leading cartridges 24 in magazine 20 have been fired, extractor head 34 has cleared the interior of feedway 14 in receiver 10. In this position, both of the fired cases may be freed from the corresponding firing chambers 22 simply by pushing forwardly against the triangular head 60 of each release lever 56. During this movement, the camming contact between surfaces 52 and 54 forces lock 39 downwardly to disengage shoulder 42 from surface 44 in notch 46 whereupon spring 36 forces extractor 32 rearwardly to the position shown in Fig. 5. As extractor 32 is moved to the rear, the inclination of passage 28 will cause claw 70 to rise while the fired cartridge case 24 is being freed for subsequent complete removal from firing chamber 22. The rearward movement of extractor 32 is, of course, halted by the contact between pin 38 and the end of elongated slot 37 in extractor body 30. This actuation of extractor 32 can be accomplished with equal facility for either a fired cartridge case or a live cartridge.

Empty firing chambers 22 may be readily refilled merely by pushing cartridges 24 forwardly therein. The contact between rim 25 of the cartridge 24 and the lower extremity of extractor head 34 will force extractor 32 into the locked position shown in Fig. 3. As lock 39 rises into engagement with notch 46 in extractor body 30, the contact between cam surfaces 52 and 54 will force release lever 56 rearwardly into position for the subsequent forward actuation thereof required to partially extract either a fired cartridge case 24 or an unfired cartridge from firing chamber 22.

The foregoing extractor is particularly adapted for use in a firearm wherein the removal of the fired cartridge case from the firing chamber must be accomplished independently of the firing operation of the gun and at any opportune time selected by the operator. Another useful feature of this extractor is its ability to hold the cartridge case against the setback movement normally en countered in those firearms wherein the walls of the case do not expand sufficiently to freeze in the firing chamber immediately upon discharge thereof.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein, it is evident that many variations may be devised within the spirit and scope thereof and the following claims are intended to include such variations.

We claim:

1. In a cartridge feeding magazine having a plurality of spaced apart parallel firing chambers extending longitudinally therethrough, a cartridge case extractor slidably mounted in the rear end of the magazine between each pair of adjacent firing chambers for engagement with a chambered cartridge case, resilient means urging said extractor rearwardly to partially extract the chambered cartridge case from the firing chamber, means for locking said extractor in position to hold the chambered cartridge case against movement to the rear, and means for manually releasing said locking means to automatically initiate the cartridge extraction movement of said extractor,

2. The combination defined in claim 1 including claw means pivotally mounted to the upper portion of said extractor for gripping engagement with the rim of the chambered cartridge case, cam means on the rear face of said claw means disposed for contact by the rim of the cartridge case during the conclusion of the chambering movement thereof whereby said claw means is pivoted out of the path of the forwardly moving cartridge to permit the completion of chambering while said extractor is held in the locked position thereof.

3. In a cartridge feeding magazine having a plurality of spaced apart parallel firing chambers extending longitudinally therethrough, an inclined passage extending forwardly and downwardly therein between each pair of adjacent firing chambers to terminate short of the front face thereof, a cartridge case extractor slidably mounted in each of said inclined passages, a spring seated in the bottom of each of said passages for imparting rearward movement to said extractor therein, a vertical lock slidably disposed in the magazine to engage the underside of said extractor for retention thereof against the bias of said spring, a release lever slidably mounted into the rear of the magazine for intersecting engagement with said lock, and cooperating cam means on said lock and said release lever for depressing said lock out of engagement with said extractor during the forward actuation of said release lever whereby said extractor is automatically released to partially extract a cartridge from the firing chamber.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 including a claw pivotally mounted to said extractor above said firing chamber, said claw having a notch in the underside thereof for gripping the rim of a cartridge case in the fully chambered position thereof, a primary and secondary cam surface disposed in adjacent relation along the lower edge of said claw, said cam surfaces being arranged to lie in the path of the rim of the cartridge case being chambered when said extractor is retained in the locked position thereof whereby successive contact of the forwardly moving cartridge case with said primary and secondary cam surfaces pivots said claw upwardly out of the chambering path of the cartridge to permit the completion of the chambering movement thereof while said extractor is retained in the locked position thereof, and resilient means in said extractor for biasing said claw into gripping engagement with the rim of the chambered cartridge.

5. In a cartridge feeding magazine having a plurality of spaced apart parallel firing chambers extending longitudinally therethrough, a cartridge case extractor slidably disposed between each pair of firing chambers and having an elongated body extending forwardly and downwardly into the magazine to terminate short of the front face thereof, a slidable lock vertically disposed in the magazine below said extractor, a compression spring urging said lock upwardly into latching engagement with the underside of said extractor whereby the latter is positioned to restrain the chambered. cartridge case against rearward setback movement during the firing thereof, said lock having a slot in one side thereof and an upwardly inclined cam surface on the floor of said slot, a release lever slidably disposed in the rear end of the magazine for longitudinal passage through said extractor lock slot, a camming notch in the underside of said release lever for engagement with said inclined cam surface in said extractor lock whereby forward movement of said lever depresses said extractor lock out of latching engagement with said extractor, and spring means urging said extractor rearwardly upon release thereof to carry the cartridge case therewith for partial extraction from the firing chamber.

6. The combination defined in claim 5 wherein said extractor is provided with an elongated slot through said body and a vertical pin is fixedly mounted in the magazine to pass through said extractor slot and thereby limit the rearward extraction movement of said extractor.

No references cited. 

